Meryl Streep has one crowded mantel. Seven Golden Globes, two Oscars, two Emmys, one AFI Life Achievement Award and one Lincoln Center honor. This morning the Kennedy Center announced she will be this year's honoree, along with singer Barbara Cook, singer/songwriter Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

Carrie Rickey, Film Critic

Posted:
Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 12:43 PM

Meryl Streep has one crowded mantel. Seven Golden Globes, two Oscars, two Emmys, one AFI Life Achievement Award and one Lincoln Center honor. This morning the Kennedy Center announced she will be an honoree, along with singer Barbara Cook, singer/songwriter Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

Soon after she receives her Kennedy Center honors, almost certainly Streep will receive an Oscar nomination -- the seventeenth for the most-nominated actress in Academy history -- for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. And she will almost certainly be up against Viola Davis (star of The Help), her co-star in Doubt. My guess, without having yet seen Iron Lady, is that a combination of a terrific performance and sentiment will carry the day for Davis.

Still, given the degree of difficulty in the roles Streep takes, she should own more Oscars than the pair she possesses (lead actress for Sophie's Choice and supporting for Kramer vs. Kramer). She deserved to be cited for Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark, Adaptation and Julie and Julia. Thoughts?